Belarusian Television misinterprets PACE president

Channel 1 (Belarusian Television) misinterpreted into Russian remarks that Rene van der Linden, president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), made in English during an interview broadcast on Sunday.

When the PACE president mentioned Belarus' political prisoners, the network misinterpreted the words as “the president's policy” or “your policy” or left them out altogether.

During the interview, Mr. van der Linden said that the Council of the Europe and Minsk held different opinions about elections conducted in the country, political prisoners and the role of the opposition and civil society. “There is a difference of opinion. Some say that there are no political prisoners. To my mind and to our opinion, there are political prisoners,” the PACE president said and suggested asking international experts to make a report on the issue. In both instances, the channel's interpretation quoted Mr. van der Linden as saying not “political prisoners” but the “president's policy.”

It quoted him as saying that most Belarusians had become much more open and had started to seek to establish better relations with European institutions and open dialogue with European countries.

When asked about the recent damaging row between Belarus and Russia over energy supplies, Mr. van der Linden suggested that Russia did not use energy supplies as a political instrument, pointing to an increase in energy prices in international markets last year. He “strongly” recommended avoiding aggravating the dispute, saying that good relations with Russia, as well as with the EU, were in the interests of Belarus.